Contributed by bluebird, who writes:-
Our Christmas contribution this year features the ever popular Tubby Hayes but in slightly unusual settings – as a session musician.
In days gone by there was always a ‘gun for hire’ and there probably still is today if you know the right people. Living on this remote Scottish Island I wouldn’t know.
Anyway, you hired the professional, he came in, did the job cleanly and efficiently, got paid his money and went his way. It was a job. He wasn’t interested in the background or the circumstances.
Very similar to the session musician. Highly professional, could read anything, play with anybody, didn’t much care about the music. It was his job and he got paid for it and then moved on to the next job like the ‘gun for hire’.
So here is Tubby Hayes with his ‘sax (or flute or vibes) for hire’. Some of the music is fragmentary, a lot of it went unacknowledged and unrecognised but it is these little oddities in the discography of a musician that makes life that little bit more interesting. Hayes was not the only musician who worked in this way. They have all done it at one time or another. It was just another job and it paid the mortgage. The music is taken from many sources and the sound does vary between tracks. I do have more but there might be much more out there which remains anonymous.
This is what you will hear, so print out the hymn sheet, grab a glass of something and just relax. There’s nothing too demanding.
Bluebird.
01 Time Check (3:30)
This is by a group led by Dave Lee and recorded for the Music Production Company KPM. It is sometimes known as Library Music. The film director would choose music for his film/TV production from a music library and it was listed by style. This is listed as ‘Bright Swinging 60s Jazz’. That’s all he needed to know. Tubby is on tenor.
02 Black, Brown and Gold (2:46)
From a Peter and Gordon vocal album. On tenor again. MP3 format.
03 Theme from ‘Crescendo’ Soundtrack (1:07)
Tubby plays tenor over the opening and closing 1969 film titles/credits. A creepy thriller. Worth watching.
04 Feed Me (2:13)
A Georgie Fame vocal backed by the Harry South big band. Tenor sax solo again.
05 I Believe In You (2:46)
Tubby’s regular 1963 group produced just this one single, which has never been re-issued. It’s an uncomfortable sort of tune on which to improvise (tenor and vibes here) and the other side is an even worse choice, ‘Sally’, which I always associate with Gracie Fields.
06 Night And Day (2:31)
Tubby plays with the Beatles – well, one of them, Ringo Starr with his first solo vocal album after leaving the Fab Four. He sounds like my old Dad in his shed at the bottom of the garden. Nice arrangement by Chico O’Farrell, of all people and a lusty tenor solo from our man.
07 The Lamp Is Low (4:57)
Or Hayes plays Ravel. Slinky Gary McFarland arrangements from his 1966 Verve easy listening ‘Soft Samba Strings’ album recorded in London. Super Hayes flute solo. McFarland plays vibes here.
08 That Old Devil Moon (3:17)
From the 1963 Susan Maughan album, ‘Swingin’ Susan’ backed by the Wally Stott Orchestra and TH with a tenor solo.
09 Hindustan (1:42)
Tubby’s only recording with Ted Heath when he appears here as a guest in 1962. He shares the very brief tenor solos with Bob Efford. Tubby is in your right speaker but he gets a bit swamped by the band. It was one of those novelty stereo records with Heath at his worst.
10 Theme from ‘Hysteria’ Soundtrack (2:06)
Tubby solos on tenor over the opening and closing titles of this 1964 British thriller. Typical B film of the period.
11 April Fool (2:39)
Matt Monroe, our greatest male singer, is featured here. Watch out for the flute solo.
12 Art’s Theme (2:53)
This is by the wonderfully named ‘Art Baxter and His Rock ‘n’ Roll Sinners’. Art, the vocalist, sits this one out and lets two of the other Sinners loose. Ronnie Scott and Mr Hayes have it all their own way. Sounds a bit like an old Jazz Couriers tear-up.
13 Boysie’s Bossa (2:26)
Flute solo from the 1965 James Bond spoof film, ‘The Liquidator’. John Gardner wrote the book from which the film was made and he also went on to write the Bond books after Ian Fleming’s death. Saxophonist and writer Simon Spillett describes this as ‘bachelor pad bossa nova music’ although it was written by Lalo Schiffrin. BJ educates you as well as entertaining you. An eminently missable film but it does have a stunning Shirley Bassey title track vocal.
14 Cherokee (2:11)
What a pair of lungs Miss Caterina Valente has - but Tubby is not to be outdone in his tenor solo.
15 Time After Time (2:18)
A beautifully played ballad on vibes backed by Gordon Beck, Jeff Clyne and Johnny Butts. This was part of 3 BBC transcription discs made for Spanish Radio play in 1965.
16 Voodoo (3:03)
From the 1965 film ‘Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors’ a strong contender for the worst film ever made and redeemed only by the appearance of the Hayes Quintet. This was one of the tunes they played. Roy Castle appears in the film playing trumpet with the group but Shake Keane actually provided his sound. Just listen to Tubby’s strange count in, ‘One, two, three, splonge’ and his growling entry on his Roland Kirk style flute solo.
17 Who Needs Forever (2:10)
From the soundtrack of the 1966 Cold War spy film ‘ The Deadly Affair’ sung by the Ice Maiden, Astrud Gilberto. In the film she sings this in Portuguese, which sounds so much sexier. The tenor solo is pretty sexy too. Quincy Jones wrote the music and John Le Carre wrote the original book (Call For The Dead). Great film, still available on DVD for £3.50 including postage but this is taken from the soundtrack cd.
18 The Chase (3:10)
From the soundtrack of the 1972 film ‘Fear Is The Key’ – an Alistair Maclean book of the same name. This has been edited down from a long car chase track just to give the solo contributions of Hayes and Ronnie Scott. There may be some background car type noises too. Roy Budd wrote the music. Worth watching too with surprise plot twist.
19 Carol’s Theme (2:46)
From the soundtrack of the 1967 Hammer House Of Rubbish film ‘The Vengeance Of She’. TH plays the moody tenor sax solo. See it if you must. Utter tosh.
20 Dumplin’s (2:46)
By Tony Crombie and His Rockets. Tubby and Ronnie (Scott) again getting down and dirty. Still got your blue suede shoes? And the drainpipes? Slim Jim tie? OK you can come in.
21 Crosstrap (2:09)
The Steve Race Group playing the title song from this obscure and long lost 1962 film which is on the British Film Institute’s ‘75 Most Wanted List’. Hayes is double tracked on tenor and the music is on a hard to find Parlophone single.
22 Funny How Time Slips Away (4:13)
Vocal by Ernestine Anderson backed by the Johnny Scott Orchestra and recorded in London in 1967. No solos as such but Kenny Wheeler and Tubby Hayes are both heard behind the singer. A big hit for Georgie Fame.
23 M 1 (2:59)
This is the motorway. Laurie Johnson wrote something called ‘The Two Cities Suite’ in 1966 with titles associated with London and New York and this tune is played by his Orchestra with Hayes taking the tenor sax solo.
24 The Late, Late Show (2:37)
The jazzy vocal group ‘The Polka Dots’ sing this backed by the Wally Stott Orchestra and our man solos on tenor. Watch out for the LP from which this single track was taken, as BJ will be posting this later.
25 Storm Warning (4:38)
The Harry South Big Band performs this, which was taken from a 1968 BBC Jazz Club broadcast. Alan Branscombe on alto and Hayes on tenor share the exchanges. The sax section consists of Alan Branscombe, Tony Coe, Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Dick Morrissey and Harry Klein. Not too shabby.
26 When The Saints Go Marching In (3:44)
We finish this session in time-honoured fashion with a rousing version of the ‘Saints’ but you ain’t heard nothing like this before. It’s the Johnny Keating Orchestra reviving the oldies. Just listen to it go, complete with the ‘Salt Peanuts’ riff. TH on tenor, Jimmy Deuchar on trumpet and Keith Christie on trombone take the solos. Audience courtesy of Rent-A-Mob.
